Rangers’ free agents all want to stay, but is that possible?

GREENBURGH – With a top goaltender and a young core of talent, the Rangers seem destined to build on their run to the Stanley Cup Final. First, it will require Glen Sather and his staff to sift through the possibilities for a team with several key role players set to hit free agency.

Two of the most important unrestricted free agents, forward Brian Boyle and defenseman Anton Stralman, were integral to the Rangers’ success and could prove difficult to replace. On Monday, both expressed a desire to return to New York. But Boyle, a fourth-liner and ace penalty-killer, covets more responsibility, while Stralman seeks stability after spending his seven NHL seasons with three organizations.

Boyle met with coach Alain Vigneault Monday and was told his future role with the Rangers would be largely unchanged. He saw the value in it during the postseason, but hopes it can expand if he re-signs here.

“That would be my role. That’s what we did, and I think we did a pretty good job with it,” Boyle said. “Hopefully, we could squeeze a little bit more juice out of the fruit next year with the same role, the same minutes, the same expectations.”

Fellow fourth-liner Dominic Moore will also hit free agency this summer and said he will seek a return to the Rangers.

In addition to his clear chemistry with Boyle, Moore may have another impetus to stay. He returned to the Rangers after sitting out the previous season to grieve over the loss of his wife, Katie.

“I’m grateful to the team and to my teammates for helping me get through that,” Moore said. “It took a few months before I thought I was playing even decent hockey.”

Negotiations could prove trickiest with Stralman, who at 27 recorded just 13 points in the regular season but provided improved defensive value in a steady pairing with Marc Staal.

Stralman’s play in the playoffs was widely praised, and he is expected to enter the offseason with multiple suitors because of it.

“The only thing in my mind, really, is security for me and my family,” Stralman said. “We’ve been moving a lot. We’ve been on four teams in seven years now. All we’re really looking for is stability. We want to stay in one place. This is obviously where we’d like to stay. I hope it’s going to happen. We’ll see.”

Forwards Benoit Pouliot and Daniel Carcillo and defenseman Raphael Diaz will also enter the offseason as unrestricted free agents.

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LUNDQVIST’S PAIN, CAPTAIN MAC, TALBOT’S HAND:

By Josh Thomson

GREENBURGH – Nearly three days had passed since the Rangers lost the Stanley Cup Final to the Kings, and Henrik Lundqvist still felt the hurt.

The articulate goaltender spoke mostly in a monotone on Monday, calling the result “a big disappointment” when the team met the media at its training facility.

Lundqvist said the team’s success will fuel him and the Rangers in their future quests for the Cup.

“A lot of times it starts with what you expect of each other, not only as players but an entire organization,” Lundqvist said. “To be close, to get closer, I think it raises our expectations for next year. I think that’s important. You want to be there, and you really have to challenge yourself to get there.”

No player meant more in the Rangers’ first trip to a Cup Final in 20 years than Lundqvist.

His 2.14 goals-against average and .927 save percentage this postseason ranked second in the league, and he shut down the Flyers and Penguins to win his fourth and fifth straight Game 7s.

Still, the former Vezina Trophy winner said coming closer than ever to winning the Cup was not satisfying enough.

“I guess when you’re that close, there’s a lot of inspiration and motivation,” Lundqvist said. “That’s where you want to be. You just have to make sure you make it all the way next time.”

Captain Mac? Ryan McDonagh just turned 25 last Friday, but he blossomed into one of the NHL’s top defensemen this season under coach Alain Vigneault.

With the Rangers’ captaincy vacant after the deadline deal of Ryan Callahan and acting captain Brad Richards a likely buyout candidate, McDonagh was asked if he’d be ready to wear the “C” next season.

“Absolutely,” he said. “This year, with the way my play was escalating, I felt more confident as the year went on. When you’ve been given a lot more responsibility and are able to step up and help our team win a lot of games, I think that helps guys believe and rally around you. When you say something in the room, guys follow behind and want to do better.”

After a slow start to the postseason, McDonagh led the Rangers with 17 points, recording a team-best 13 assists.

Broken hand for Talbot: The mystery surrounding backup goalie Cam Talbot has been solved. Talbot suffered a broken hand during warmups for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final against the Canadiens, leaving him unable to practice or dress against the Kings.

Talbot said he reached back to bat down a puck and was hit, breaking a bone in his right hand. The injury did not require surgery. He said he would’ve skated Sunday to test his availability had the Rangers advanced to a Game 6.

Journeyman David LeNeveu, who had never played for the Rangers, dressed as Lundqvist’s backup in Talbot’s absence.

“It was a terrible situation,” Talbot said. “I just wish I could’ve been a part of it.”

327 Comments

Don’t know if anyone’s brought it up, but I caught Zipay on Somers last night while walking the dog. He suggested Nash was out of shape. First time I’ve heard that , or anything like that. Carp, what do you think?

Is this the criteria to sign/trade for players? Well Nash made the team and played great Defense so maybe we should hold on to him for the next four years for some solid PK and reg season scoring for $$$7.8MM

Need to trade risk for other risk. Staal is signed for only one more season, Buff for two. We have NO offensive Dman save for McD who cannot play every second of game and an inconsistent J Moops.
We get a PP QB, a physical presence and a guy who won a cup. Heck, I would move him to forward.

If 2 yrs of a 6.5” 265 lbs PP QB is what it took to get Kane and you got rid of Nash, you wouldn’t do that??

I can’t wait until we get Byfuglien, he becomes our highest paid D-Man to take shots from the point, one gets blocked and he can’t chase anyone down. It will be exactly like having Richards on the point!

Absolutely NO WAY to Byfuglien! How can you guys actually think that he has, in any way, the ability to play on the Rangers with the system that they play!? He would fit better on Boston or another team that slows the game down. He can’t keep up with anyone on the Rangers. He isn’t a good puck mover.

He has a shot. He has weight problems. He has conditioning problems. He’s been moved to Forward. Come on People.

Personally I’m a fan of Skjei over Big Buff. It will take a couple of years, that kid can skate! If he jumped over the summer, and started for the Wolfpack, he could play a half a season and play like McD did when he came up.

Every day that passes without Richards being placed on waivers will get me more nervous. I mean, what could the holdup be unless there was some sort of debate? Plus, wouldn’t the organization also want to give the player as much time as possible to prepare for FA?

With the June 25 date that teams can start to interview prospective UFAs, I imagine NYR will exercise buyout by then … unless they fear he will go to Philly or NJ or another rival and want to make it difficult.

In all fairness, Byfuglien is a pretty good skater in general, let alone for someone of his weight. He is a rover, is all over the place, and is out of defensive position because of that. Not suggesting we should get him, not for that price, but just stating the fact.

Richards needs to be bought out if only because of all the UFAs that need re-signing. If you play around with that armchair GM thing on capgeek.com for even two minutes you realize really quickly. I assume Sather has spent two minutes or more thinking about it and realizes too.

Back in the summer of ’08 or so a cigar smoking farmer added two studs to his herd. He named them #19 and #23. He had to give them different names although they both wanted to be called #23. The new #23 was appointed as the “captain” of the herd. He was moderately successful particularly with a young stud named #24. They both went on a journey to far away Vancouver and helped their national herd provide a silver lining to the adventure.

#23 got too old and had to retire while #19 became tired and slow. So the farmer sent #19 to the French farmer for a young stud he named #27. To this day everyone around said that the farmer swindled the French farmer.

As time went on the farmer had to replenish his herd. So he added a very expensive stud to replace both #19 and #23 and gave him the name #19 too. Meanwhile #24 became so important to the herd that he became the new “captain” of the herd.

The farmer was still not achieving his goals and decided to send a few young members of his herd off to Ohio for a guy he called #61. So now the famer had #19, captain #24 and an even more expensive #61. It was a poor year for the herd and they were not as good as the year before. Bad weather and lack of agreement made the year shorter than expected and the outcome was disappointing. The shepherd was dismissed and a new one came in to replace him.

A new year began. While their barn was under repair the herd went out west to get ready for a very long winter. Captain #24 became unhappy and was sent packing to Florida. Still the herd prospered and as summer approached they almost won the top prize in the land. A few cowhands with stripped shirts got in the way and their decisions were very costly to the herd.

Now that old cigar smoking farmer has to decide how to handle the summer of ’14. Does he send #19 out to pasture? He had stepped in the lead the herd after #24 left town. What does he do with #61 who has disappointed all the neighbors with his lack of intensity and drive. He has not produced as expected. The neighbors make noises and yell at #61 all the time. They feel he has become as useless as old #19 before he was sent to Canada.

The farmer has to pay his other studs (#6, #16, #22, #28, and #67) or lose them to his neighbors willing to pay them more. What can he do? Will one of his competitor’s take #61 from him for a young stud who can step in and contribute to the old famer’s herd like #27 has done? Will someone be willing to be swindled like the French farmer was years ago?

[Richards’ agent Pat Morris] adds, “I have spoken to Glen and Glen is very positive about Brad’s season and most of the playoffs, saying that his Final was not at the level of the previous three seasons but no one besides Lundqvist was perfect in that round. He was pleased with his season. From a hockey point of view he isn’t against moving forward with him but it’s a business decision that may be out of of Glen’s hand.”

Honestly, last year’s decision on Richards had only one major, massive risk: Injury.

Other than that, they had the cap space for him, knew he would rebound, would be paying him that money regardless, and figured he could be an important player this season … knowing he’d have to be bought out in June ’14.

Now they have no other option, and they need the cap space to re-sign some of their other important players. He has to do it.

But, Doodie, if not … it’s $6.67M per for the next three years, then he retires and it’s $5.67M for three years for a player no longer here. I would think, based on what Richards looked like at the end of this year, that just the first three of those six years would be frightening enough. The last three would be an apocalypse.

RE: Byfuglien, no thank you. While I agree that he isn’t necessarily slow, he does not have a quick first step and as was stated before suffers from kreider level bouts of not knowing where to be on the ice.

Besides, not every PP needs a big bomb from the point, what we need is a guy who knows how to get a shot through big or small.

Random Question: RE Stralman, are we going to be able to, for the cost of resigning him (say 5mill for 4 years) be able to replace him even with a combination of people?

The trade-off for all the uncertainty and difficulty retaining Boyle, Stralman, Moore, Pouliot (all of whom we would probably like to keep next season), et al. is at least we have hockey in Florida, Carolina, California, Texas, Phoenix, Nashville, and that the Fishsticks are able to stay in NY.

Background: Pullout went from 1.8 mil in ’13 to 1.3 mil in ’14. His star was on the descendant. AV gave him the opportunity to revive his career. We can’t afford to lose size. He’s been a UFA four consecutive years and has received only one year contracts each time.

I like the way everyone talks about Boyle and Stralman, they seem to be everyone’s talking points about resigning, when in reality there is a “first line winger” who could be resigned for 2-3 mil per and everyone is talking about a 3+ mil per 3rd/4th line fwd or a 4-5mil 2nd pair d man in a salary cap world…

IE…stastny goes to free agency, we sign him, I trade Staal at draft if I can, depending on where I trade him and what I get would determine where and what I trade brass or step for. I think there are enough 2nd pair lefty Dmen out there (even in free agency) to replace Staal with minimal if any overall drop off. Klein can play 2nd pair rd in place of NATW.

I only let zucc walk if brass is traded, personally I keep all of the “first line” and trade step.

Rick Nash was the beast we aquired to propel us to the promise land. Nash at the start was in his usually beast modes when we got ’em . He was scoring and dominating them BOOM!! Nash is out with an concussion and we never see that same player again . Pat Lafontaine , Eric and brent Lindros . Players that were never the same and had to retire because of it. Our player Nash was not the same guy in our PROMISE LAND run .The salaries reflect the disappointment in sat payers and Nash was the only one whom did n’t play HIS role. He played his new ” concussed role” during team Canada’s medal and continues to do the same here. This time Jeff Carter was on the other side and he could not do anything. Nash was playing like a start defenseman in a franchise power forward role . That can NOT cut it . He was signed on to be the man and when he had his time to fix everything , he continue to put up no goals. He caould n’t even pass properly to Kreider whhen all Kreider needs is a good pass. Rick Nash was so rapped up in his own personal problems he hurt the club offensively. Defensively he was awsome but that is NOT his role. Nash to me was a major let down and the cup was lost because of him letting us down. It cost us alot to get him and he could not , and would not carry any load . MSL did it all in such a short time. In all Rick Nash is concussed and he should retire . I can’t bear to be so disappointed in a player that cost so much that wont get us the goals we deperately need. I really don’t think he can do anything to make up for this.

ZzZz- strangely enough the other day some guy who had been watching me do my job for awhile (but had never done it and had absolutely no idea how to) came up to me and told me I’d never be the same worker again- that I was overpaid and should retire. Guess how that conversation turned out. I did feel bad disappointing him, though.

If he’s not scoring goals, he needs to make the players around him better. Can’t even do that. He plays like such a wimp. He should be using that big body to drive to the net every shift, drawing penalties. He always takes that wimpy wrister which has never worked. The less contact for The Good One, the happier he is. Fugg him!

Then you have a little halfling like Zucc all over the ice taking hits, doing anything he can to help.

Ive held back on this but what the heck. Someone I know, very successful, runs in a fabulous, partying crowd, has become friendly with Nash. Friends of mine have seen Nash and his wife at parties at this guy’s apartment. To be clear, no one has said they have seen Nash do anything other than enjoy the socializing, and by all accounts he is a gentleman. But I have to say given the change in Nash it has made me wonder.

wick, not to disagree with you all day on your 26th, but I disagree that size trumps speed. Speed trumped size all playoffs long … Kings had both. Montreal, NYR, Chicago, all in final four, not much bulk, tons of zoom. Bruins and Flyers … out early.

also been meaning to bring this up for a few weeks. That final four? No goons. You could say Prust, but he’s not a true goon even though his limited skills are eroding.

Carp
I dont disagree with you at all (and my 26th is just another day so no worries). I think it takes a mix to win, kings proved that. I thought the blue jackets were a bad match up for us because they had speed with size.

I also think the regular season and the post season are two different games entirely…in the regular season (which is called in a more pansification way) speed will get you places, but in the post season the game is called more like the clutching and grabbing era and as time and space become less and less you need size to overcome that. You have to have a proper mix if both throughout since you cannot just switch full rosters at the start of the post season. The kings have a good mix and as they have shown, your D does not have to be 6 or 7 guys that skate like j Moops or mcdonut, but at least 2 guys that are bigger that clear the crease and can have only avg speed.

As far as goons go, I’ve never said we needed a pure goon, and I also think pure goons will be gone at some point, but guys like lucic, Neil, Simmonds, etc. will always be there and you need a counter. Since those guys don’t grow on trees (and I like rolling 4 lines).

That’s why IMHO a big tough guy that can play, gadzic and bordeleau come to mind, or a 210+ pounder or so like engelland, boll, etc (light heavyweights) that can play on a lower line/3rd d pair regularly and still step in if necessary is pretty important.

I do think that those players need to be able to play a regular shift before they should be added to the team.

I like engelland a lot for that role. I like mcilrath a lot for that also (even if mcgratton actually did “take it easy on him”). Gazdic can skate really well for a 240lb’er, but I think bordeleau has better hockey skills.

1.byfuglien Byfuglien. Forget it and don’t call next
morning.
2.Boyle definitely outgrow “dime a dozen” and I’m afraid
will looking for his next “quarter” somewhere else…
3.MSL probably will be upset by BRich disposal and
throws tantrums, demanding a trade to Montreal or
Hartford.
4.Stralman will retire and buy a little house in
the Prairies.

I find it hilarious that people are commenting about Buff’s skating being slow. He is faster than any Rangers defenseman not named MCD and is probably just as fast or a half a step slower than Moore.

He is very physical and is usually in the top 10-15 in hits among dmen in the league. He also is not afraid to drop the gloves unlike our vastly overpaid Dan Girardi who by the way was out of position most of the playoffs. He was also a turnover machine.

He also has scored over 50pts a season in his last for years and is still pretty young at 29.

Buff has some warts but so do many players. His biggest one being weight. I think that is one thing that leads to a lack of concentration which probably causes him to be out of position sometimes. The good far out weighs the bad with him and he was a huge reason why the Hawks won their first cup. In the right deal, he makes a ton of sense, and he fills a huge need, one of our biggest need in my opinion.

Not to keep beating a dead horse (btw was Richards bought out yet) but there is no difference in pre-concussion and post-concussion Nash’ production. For the last 4 years his shooting percentage has hovered between 10 and 11 percent. He scored more goals than any other Ranger last year because he took so many more shots. The only top nine Rangers with lower shooting percentages were the dead horse and Stepan (St Louis also but he had so few shots as a Ranger as to be statistically null) and Stepan’s was aberrational considering prior years and will undoubtedly correct itself next year, and probably explains his reluctance to take shots.

If Nash was capable of making a pass, the likelihood would be that he would have fewer goals but the team as a whole would have more.

Also, the definition of tone-deafness. A cable company advertising as a benefit a service that doesn’t require packaging things you don’t want or need.

Greg, yup. I know. But, even if he does win with NYR down the road, we won’t ever forget how he played this year. The Cup was on the line. That’s why I agree with you, he has already worn out his welcome. Rangers are far from Cup favorites next season.

“Sioux
Personally I’m a fan of Skjei over Big Buff. It will take a couple of years, that kid can skate! If he jumped over the summer, and started for the Wolfpack, he could play a half a season and play like McD did when he came up.

At least you would have the skill set AV is looking for.

June 17th, 2014 at 12:27 PM”

I couldn’t agree with Sioux more. I was so impressed with Brady during the frozen four. That kid can SKATE!! Our most effective weapon this year was our speed and Brady fits the bill big time. He also has a good shot from the point. As an 18 year old freshman, I was VERY impressed with his game..

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